CompTIA CASP+ Practice Test

What is the most likely cause of dropped connections with external clients in a stateful firewall implementation?

1. Overconfigured connection limits

2. Insufficient bandwidth allocation

3. Improper stateful inspection configurations

4. External clients experiencing network issues

The correct answer is: Improper stateful inspection configurations

In a stateful firewall implementation, the firewall maintains a table of active connections and makes decisions based on the state of those connections. Improper configurations in stateful inspection can lead to issues where legitimate packets are dropped. For example, if the firewall is not correctly set up to recognize and track the states of existing connections, it may mistakenly classify packets as belonging to a connection that does not exist or fail to allow necessary packets to pass. This could result in dropped connections for external clients, as the firewall may not recognize or authorize ongoing sessions correctly. Although other factors like overconfigured connection limits, insufficient bandwidth allocation, or external client network issues can contribute to problems in connectivity, they would not specifically relate to the stateful inspection process of the firewall. The key function of a stateful firewall is to keep track of the state of connections; hence, improper configurations directly affect its ability to manage external client communications effectively.